ShenaniTims Vs. Anki: Round 10

Let it be known that I’m a creature of habit. So starting off this week’s Anki recap with the slides in the “wrong” order bugs me to no end. Bugs me even though I realize that I’m really the only one reading these entries. A fact that’ll just make this week’s lack of order all the more galling.

However I feel this week’s change in presentation is needed; as your eyes are not deceiving you. See that tall line in the “Added” pic? Now quickly scan to the “Cards” axis on the left. That’s right, last Thursday (목요일) I ended up adding over 500 cards to my Anki deck.

Oops.

Here’s a quick comparison gallery: this week’s “Added” cards vs. the previous record holder, the deck’s first week. They shouldn’t look too dissimilar until you glance at the scale.

So one feature that Anki contains, that I was failing to exploit, was the ability to easily make flashcards that are viewed backwards. Normally the deck shows me a picture, I say what I believe is the answer, and then the deck shows the correct answer along with the proper pronunciation (if I can find a sample). This system, as I’ve been documenting weekly, seems to have been working great for me.

Yet there was always that final, backwards card,ability that was nagging away in the back of my mind. Where the deck will show/pronounce the answer, leaving me to say what the image will be. While I didn’t think such a deck modification would be too tough, I also didn’t want to mess with a good thing. Leave well enough alone, at least until I stumbled across Fluent Forever‘s instructions on how to enact such a change.

To think that with just a few small clicks, I’d be able to lay this nagging sensation to rest forever!

Unfortunately, while I was able to make mirror cards for all my existing flashcards, I wasn’t able to limit the number of cards created. I was hoping to mirror only cards with certain “tags;” thus enabling me to keep the amount of new cards rather low.

Here’s a quick comparison gallery: this week’s “Added” cards vs. the previous record holder, the deck’s first week. They shouldn’t look too dissimilar until you glance at the scale.

I had found that by limiting the number of new cards to around 10-15/day, I could more easily learn them. It turns out Anki doesn’t let you cherrypick the tags though. It’s all or nothing; meaning my deck doubled in size in a day. Given that the Anki program limits the amount of new cards you’ll see each day (to around 20 by default, though this number can be modified), I’ll be seeing a full “New Card” queue for months to come.

The one upside to all this will be removing my previous 10-15/day limitation. New cards that are truly “new” (i.e. unknown to me) get mixed with the mass of older cards whose form is new, thus making the inevitable task of cutting through 20 cards less daunting. Now I can throw in as many (brand) new cards into the deck as I want!